Fallen Gods
by SilverGodFanGirl
Summary: This was a contest fic for an LJ IY community, where artists give us permission to write a story to their picture. Picture is here: With tarnished honor, Sesshomaru goes in search of Inuyasha after Izayoi's death. Having no intentions on rescuing him, he unwittingly gives him what he needs to survive...


**Note:** I'm not the biggest of Sess fans, so it was very interesting trying to write from his POV, but I don't think I did horribly... The point of this is that throughout the series I've always wondered what drove the brothers to truly hate each other, so, I am explaining it to my satisfaction, lol. (Written February 09, 2009 ) **I do not own Rumiko's hotties, and I make no profit other than self-satisfaction.**

**oOoOoO= Change in POV**

He still didn't know what his intentions were with this quest. Perhaps he blamed his father's death on the little half-breed he was searching for... after all, it was easier than blaming himself. It was still a bitter sting to his pride: the pride he had in his blood, in himself, and the memory of the Great Lord, that a woman, a _human_ no less, and her whelp of a mutt had been the downfall of the most powerful Taiyoukai in the land. After his father's death, it should have fallen on his shoulders to watch over the human woman and his half-brother, or at the very least not allowed her to be killed as she was, but it was his pride that once again blinded him of his duty. It was not any time soon after news of the woman's death that he finally decided to trek his way to the lands where the mongrel was reported to be hiding. He reasoned to himself that he'd waited so long in hopes the mutt would have starved to death, or been dealt with by demons or humans, to save himself the trouble of figuring out it's fate. Yet not so far back in his mind he knew it was because if he had the creature there, in front of him, it would only serve as a reminder of his failure to his duty and honor. Without honor, this Sesshomaru was nothing.

oOoOoOoOo

There was a scent in the air that stopped him mid-bite. It was so familiar, yet, foreign. The scent of anything familiar and non-threatening was enough to make his heart race for joy. Drawn to the source, he stashed his latest meal in the branches he hid in and leapt to the ground. Cautiously, he winded his way through the brush, noiselessly, though he wasn't for sure; the speeding thump of his heart drowned out all things. Just as he reached the edge of the tree line, he had but a moment to gasp in awe as a vision of a silver god brushed silently past where he crouched, hidden by the flora. His scent followed, snapping the hanyou into a long forgotten memory... one with the smell of smoke and fallen tears. The scent was not quite the same, but rationality had left his young head as the word "Papa" left his lips.

oOoOoOoOo

It was cruel irony, that the little cur uttered that particular word that stopped him in his tracks. So lost in his thoughts of the last conversation he'd had with his father, he'd missed the rank smell of an unkempt hanyou, which upon further scrutiny was a feat upon itself. He turned, perhaps hoping more than expecting, to see a human-like child with mild traits tying him to his lineage. Fate once again kicked him in the head as he took in a round-faced, filthy, dog-eared, smaller vision of their, of _his_, father, coyly stepping from the bushes with a look of mixed awe and hope. He had the feeling that this was a foreign look for the abomination, and he did not find giving this creature _any_ kind of hope to be a particularly satisfying emotion. As they stood there, facing each other, the pitiful little runt raised his arms toward the disgusted youkai and once again allowed "Papa" to fall from his now smiling mouth. To one who did not regularly feel shame or embarrassment, the emotions that teetered on the edge of his senses were irksome and caused all of his defenses to go into high alert. A defensive Sesshomaru is a dangerous situation, if nothing else, and though the runt was too small and weak for him to physically lash out at and still keep his honor, Sesshomaru was not above attacking his heart; he had little enough use for it anyways.

OooOoOoOo

Hope. He had finally caught a glimpse of its warm light in the form of a silver god. It had been so long since he felt it he hardly recognized it, and the fragile bit he had left, momentarily started to come back together. Though, only momentarily. His shining god raised his hand to halt the little pup's progress, then with heart-felt, crushing words ripped his light away.

"I am not your sire, half-breed, nor am I your salvation. You share my father's blood and that will have to be enough to survive. If it is not, it is of no consequence to me. Go now, I have no further use for you."

oOoOoOoOoOo

As his newly discovered brother turned to walk away, the tiny hanyou could not tell if the ringing in his ears was his heart stopping, or the delicate hope that had just been welling up inside shattering around him, obliterating what there had been. Fear replaced it, fear and something he'd not known before... something that currently had no name in his mind, but felt like an aching, torrential fire in his heart and a raging storm in his mind. These alien emotions scared him even further and without warning the pup reached out for the youkai's billowing sleeve and grasped it with what strength he had.

oOoOoOoOoOo

He had not expected the stupidity of the mongrel to be so vast as to dare lay a hand on any part of him, yet he was currently glaring at said mongrel, gripping his sleeve as if he had a chance. It was difficult, to say the least, to look the hanyou in the face and not see parts of his father. He was brought back once again to what had been the Taiyoukai's last words imparted to his angry son.

_"What is it that you seek to protect... what is precious to you?"_

If there was anything in this world he could ever feel the slightest need to protect, it would certainly not be anything tainted with the blood of a human, be they blood kin or not.

"You are pathetic. You whine like the half-breed cur that you are, expecting others to protect you. You are a taint to my father's legacy, one that I will erase from this world one day. You are not worth my time, nor will you ever be. Hate me if you must, let your anger keep you alive if nothing else, for that is all I will provide you with."

oOoOoOoOoOo

With a tug of his sleeve, his brother was freed from his small grasp. As the sting in his eyes increased, so did the aching burn in his heart, but now he had a name for it: Anger. Hate. He'd never had such emotions in his life, and while they terrified him, they replaced hope in his heart with an iron resolve. A resolve to prove this youkai wrong, to never allow others to protect him, to show he needed no one else to survive. He would never again allow himself to be thought of as weak. As he wiped away unshed tears with a grubby fist, he turned towards the forest, head held high and eyes burning with a fiery determination they had never known before. He would survive, then make sure to show his brother that a half-breed is just the best of both worlds.

_**Fin**_


End file.
